Barclays and Santander have taken stakes in British fintech group MarketInvoice in a sign of established lenders’ growing willingness to team up with technology-driven challengers. , jointly led a £26m equity investment in the London-based technology group. The companies declined to comment on valuation, but documents filed with Companies House suggest the deal valued MarketInvoice at about £85m.

Investing.com - British bank stocks were mostly lower in European midday trade on Monday, as a note of caution set in with Prime Minister Theresa May set to present her 'Plan B' for Brexit to parliament later in the day.

Thailand’s exports shrank in December, defying expectations of a rebound and adding the country to a growing list of Asian nations whose outbound shipments fell at the end of 2018. “Overall, the weakness in exports continues to suggest little need for further increases in the policy rate after the Bank of Thailand raised [rates] by 25bp, to 1.75 per cent, on 19 December”, Barclays analysts wrote in a note, adding the central bank was likely to keep rates unchanged over the next twelve months as “continued decline in exports will likely keep the BoT focused on downside risks to economic growth, especially as [consumer] inflation has also slowed”.

Jes Staley does not act like a man under siege. He comes across as confident and relaxed, but his breezy demeanour belies the fact that Barclays, the bank he has run as chief executive since December 2015, ...

Investors in European banks shouldn’t get too excited about eye-catching results on Wall Street. Only Barclays among European banks can claim to have a finger in all these pies, and even it may have lost market share in global deal making, according to data from Refinitiv. European banks, in general, are more exposed to debt-related businesses, both trading and advising on new issues.

Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) stock has shown some signs of life of late. FB stock hit its lowest levels in almost two years in December. But the New Year has been good to FB stock, which has risen over 10% in 2019.
I'm still skeptical about FB stock, as I wrote last month. Facebook stock unquestionably is cheap. But the company's spending is rising in 2019 , which is one reason that the market cap of FB stock suffered the biggest single-day decline in stock market history in August . Meanwhile, regulators are still on the prowl, and Facebook's user growth almost has to decelerate, given its worldwide reach.
But I'm clearly on the opposite side of Wall Street, which continues to embrace FB stock. That optimism no doubt has contributed to this year's gains. And if analysts are right, FB stock has more room to rise.
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### The Street Defends Facebook Stock
At least four analysts have made bullish arguments about FB stock in just the last two weeks. JPMorgan Chase called it a "best idea", and assigned Facebook stock a price target of $195. Barclays called FB "the best opportunity in large-cap Internet (stocks)."
Baird, too, assigned FB stock a $195 target. And as InvestorPlace's Harriet Lefton noted this week, RBC Capital called Facebook stock one of its 10 best for 2019. Even Citron Research, better known as a short-seller of stocks like Bausch Health (NYSE:BHC) and Shopify (NYSE:SHOP), has been bullish on Facebook stock.
Those analysts aren't alone: the average price target on Facebook stock, according to finviz.com, sits at $187. That figure suggests that FB stock can rise another 25% this year.
The analysts' main points are different, but they share some similar themes. Citron and RBC both highlight the value of Instagram and WhatsApp, two of the company's platforms that haven't been monetized to the same extent as its namesake website.
JPMorgan Chase noted that Facebook usage is "stickier than many think;" in other words, most users haven't left the site despite the negative publicity of 2018. Barclays agrees, as the firm predicts that FB will report higher-than-expected daily average users (DAUs) when it announces its Q4 earnings, likely later this month.
And pretty much every bull points to the current valuation of FB stock, which is cheap. FB still trades at around 20 times analysts' consensus 2019 EPS estimate, and the valuation of Facebook stock is closer to 17 times after excluding the company's cash hoard.
The valuation of FB stock suggests that its growth is pretty much coming to an end. And so it's not too surprising that analysts who don't believe the company's growth is over are arguing that FB stock should get more credit and higher multiples.
### FB Stock Ahead of Earnings
The rising sentiment towards Facebook stock, both from analysts and investors, sets up an important fourth-quarter earnings report for FB.
In a lot of ways, the bull case on FB is based on the idea that the bad news already is baked into FB stock at its current levels. We already know that the company's earnings growth is going to slow as its spending on security rises. CEO Mark Zuckerberg has apologized for the company's slow response to security issues, and he and his company are working to improve on that front.
And so there's an obvious case that bulls can make in the wake of the Q4 report. Specifically, they can argue that the company's user-growth figures remain solid, showing that the public still trusts FB or at least still uses its services. Meanwhile, they will likely be able to say that the company's 2019 outlook remains roughly in- line with investors' already-low expectations.
Facebook's revenue will likely still be poised to grow 25%+ this year (analysts' consensus estimate is 26.5%), reminding investors that the company is still growing. And the same analysts who are backing FB stock now will reaffirm their price targets or even raise them. FB stock will respond by rising, and the 2019 rally will continue.
Truthfully, I wouldn't be surprised to see that scenario play out. Investors who are bullish on FB probably should look to buy FB ahead of its earnings. But from a longer-term perspective, FB stock is still facing a lot of risk.
Indeed, the key question is whether the bad news really is behind Facebook stock. If it is, the company's Q4 numbers can give it somewhat of a fresh start, and its late-2018 lows look like a bottom. But if there's more bad news ahead for FB, the early-year gains of FB stock were just a false start. And actually, I can't quite shake the feeling that there's something else coming down the pike.
As of this writing, Vince Martin has no positions in any securities mentioned.
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Brexit could allow Britain to simplify rules for smaller banks to boost competition in a sector still dominated by the "Big Four" lenders, the Bank of England said on Thursday. Financial rules in Britain are written by the European Union, which the UK is due to leave in March. "There may be a reasonable case that a simpler -- simpler not weaker -- regime for small firms would advance both our safety and soundness and competition objectives," Deputy Governor Sam Woods said in a speech.

Barclays announces the appointment of Jacquelyn Titus as Managing Director and Head of Barclays’ Canadian Financial Institutions Group. Ms. Titus will be based in Toronto, and will report to Bruce Rothney, CEO and Country Head of Barclays Canada, and Tom Vandever, Head of Financial Institutions Group, Americas at Barclays.

China doubled the limit of one of the main foreign investment channels into the world’s second biggest economy, continuing to open up its financial system even as the country’s trade war with the U.S. jolts financial markets. About $101 billion of the quota is in use by overseas institutions, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Authorities have been stressing that they plan to further open China’s financial system, building on earlier promises that they would better integrate the more than $40 trillion sector into the global economy.

(Bloomberg) -- Emerging-market currencies and equities had their best weekly rally in more than two months as U.S.-China trade talks concluded on a positive note and U.S. Federal Reserve officials signaled patience in tightening monetary policy.

After reading your article “Former Barclays executives prepare to face fraud trial” ( January 7 ), I realised what had been niggling me after reading the Lunch with the FT with Bob Diamond ( FT Weekend ...

In a letter to backers of his Sherborne vehicle, which is Barclays’ fourth-largest shareholder with 5.5 per cent, Mr Bramson said he “did not have confidence” he could bring about a recovery in the bank’s share price as an outside investor.

Moody's Investors Service has assigned a rating of Aa2 to the proposed approximately $73.4 million of New York State Housing Finance Agency (the "Agency" or "NYS HFA") Affordable Housing Revenue Bonds (AHRB), 2019 Series A Refunding Bonds (Variable Rate) (Federally Taxable), and Affordable Housing Revenue Bonds, 2019 Series B Refunding Bonds (Variable Rate) (Federally Taxable) (the "2019 Series A and B Bonds"). Moody's has also assigned a VMIG 1 rating and a bank bond rating of Aa3 to each of the 2019 Series A and 2019 Series B Bonds.

Barclays today clarified the impact of corporate actions that affect certain index constituents of the CIBC Atlas Select MLP Index (“the Index”). On January 9, 2019, Valero Energy Corporation (VLO)(“VLO”) and Valero Energy Partners LP (VLP)(“VLP”) closed on their previously announced merger in which VLO acquired VLP. Consistent with the rules of the Index, the acquisition of VLP is treated as a delisting.

A fight for assets has erupted among volatility funds that allow investors to bet on gyrations in the stock market, as the current market-leading exchange traded product enters its final days. Barclays’ $700m exchange-traded note, known by the ticker VXX, was the first of its kind when it launched in January 2009. Barclays is hoping to lure investors to a successor ETN called VXXB when its predecessor dies on January 29, but sharp-elbowed challengers have spotted an opportunity to knock the bank from its pole position.